A FORMER bricklayer broke his neck when he came round from an anaesthetic and fell out of bed in hospital.

Godfrey Munrowd fell out of bed at Worcestershire Royal Hospital because there were no rails in place when he came round following a routine knee replacement operation.

A settlement has since been secured for Mr Munrowd, who now has metal screws in his neck after hospital staff failed did not raise bed rails last February.

The injury left the 68-year-old unable to return to his job because of ongoing pain and restricted movement. He instructed medical law experts at Irwin Mitchell to find answers about why more was not done to prevent the incident.

Mr Munrowd is speaking out for the first time after the firm secured him an admission of responsibility from Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust for failing to provide a bed with railings.

This was followed by an undisclosed settlement for the pain and suffering caused by his injuries and to cover his loss of earnings.

Mr Munrowd, who has since moved to Honiton in Devon, had a CT scan following his accident which revealed a fracture in his neck caused by his fall and he was taken into surgery where the fracture was stabilised and two screws were inserted his neck.

He said: “When I woke from surgery I was in agony with a pain in my neck, which I obviously didn’t expect having had knee surgery.

"When the nurses told me I had fallen from my bed I was absolutely horrified and couldn’t understand why more wasn’t done to prevent it from happening.

“The impact to my life of my treatment at the Worcestershire Royal Hospital has been devastating.”

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust carried out an investigation following the incident which resulted in an urgent action plan to prevent the same error in future.

This included no further patients being transported on beds without rails in place; all staff being made aware of the policy for the safe and effective use of bed rails; amending the theatre check list to include bed rails; assessing the number of bed rails in ward areas and transporting patients on trolleys when rails were not available; and replacing all current beds with profile beds that have rails by the end of last year.

Lindsey Webb, the trust’s chief nursing officer, said: “We are very sorry for what happened to Mr Munrowd while he was a patient in Worcestershire Royal Hospital in February 2012.”